Those words came back to her as she looked to the northwest at the part of Gowen Field that adjoined the Boise Municipal Airport. While a commercial jet airliner descended onto the runway in the distance, Air National Guardsmen could be seen in the foreground performing their preflight checks of the A-10 ground attack aircraft under the harsh lights of their portion of the airfield. GO Thomas had once commanded the squadron that those aircraft belonged to. For a second Nancy wondered if he was actually over there. No, she told herself in the next second. He’s far too smart a man for that. If anything he’d be where he could best influence the situation or restate for the umpteenth time the righteousness of his cause to the throng of cameras and reporters who followed his every move. With a shake of her head, Nancy discarded any thought of that sordid aspect of the crisis and continued her inspection.

Together with their Army counterparts who were busy tending a flock of AH-64 attack helicopters parked nearby, the Air Guardsmen’s activities belied the contention that the governor was being cautious. Though Nancy understood that what they were doing was little more than rattling their governor’s saber as part of this strange and dangerous political kabuki dance, she had no doubt that the omnipresent eyes of hosts of television cameras scattered about Boise beaming these images across the nation were painting an entirely different story. Even now she could see a news van parked out on West Gowen Road. With satellite relay equipment that was far more sophisticated than anything the Idaho Guard had, the crew of that van was shooting some background footage which would be spliced into a twenty-second news piece for later use. The final, edited videotape would not portray the fact that the equipment being filmed was not fully manned, or that most of the pilots for the attack helicopters sitting ominously at the ready had not been called to the colors. Nor would the dubbed-over voice convey the apprehension she and her fellow guardsmen felt as they went about their duty. All that the rest of the nation would see were the men and women of a rebellious state arming themselves to their teeth with sophisticated war machines.